749 



oue situation near Barnstaple, by the side of a small stream artifi- 

 cially conducted to supply a paper mill, just two miles from the 

 Ilfracombe road. Devonshire, therefore, may be added as a new lo- 

 cality (so far as I know) for this very beautiful, and, as it seems to 

 me, distinct species. Being, as it is, a native of the district, why it 

 should not have taken up its quarters on the delightful banks of the 

 Lyn, is a question on whicli I will not now hazard a conjecture ; but 

 there I found it not ; and it is too conspicuous a plant to be readily 

 passed over by any one on the look-out for ferns. What surprised 

 me most of all was the non-appearance of Cystopteris fragilis, and all 

 its various forms, at Lynmouth, and, I may add, of Polypodium Dry- 

 opteris and Phegopteris, and of Lycopodium Selaginoides. The 

 moss-grown rocks of Lynmouth, perpetually bedewed with the spray 

 of the waterfalls, are just the very spots where one would look to find 

 some species of Hyraenophyllum, or perhaps even — considering the 

 mildness of the Devonshire climate — of Trichomanes. I searched 

 most diligently after H. Wilsoni, but in vain, though the rocks seem- 

 ed formed and placed on purpose for its growth. The following, 

 then, are the ferns which I should have expected to meet with at 

 Lynmouth, but which, so far as my researches extended, do not ap- 

 pear to grow there : — 



Cystopteris fragilis 



Polypodium Dryopteris 



Phegopteris 



Polystichum lohatum 



LastrtBd recurva 



Hymen ophyllum Wilsoni 



Lycopodium Selaginoides 



Osmunda regalis? 



I avail myself of the present opportunity to state that I had the 

 satisfaction, in October last, of seeing the elegant and rare Adiantum 

 Capillus-Veneris, flourishing at large on the cliffs facing the sea near 

 Rillidge point, about two miles from Ilfracombe. And I am glad to 

 be able to add that it is not very likely to be soon eradicated from the 

 spot ; for the fern grows high up on the perpendicular side of the 

 cliff, under the drip of a small watercourse, and the assistance of two 

 men, with ladders, is required in order to approach it. Accordingly 

 it is out of the reach of wanton spoliation. I had afterwards the fur- 

 ther pleasure of finding small specimens of ' maiden's hair ' in another 

 situation at no great distance, and gathering it with my own bands ; 

 but from this last spot, which is more accessible, it has been almost 

 Vol. II. 5 b 



